That said, I don't think our situation is very different than any time in the past month. We're capable of making the playoffs, but only if everything goes right, and there are so many holes in the roster. I'm enjoying being in contention, but I won't be disappointed if we don't make it.

Keep giving young guys playing time and see who sticks. And if we can make a waiver trade for a non-propsect, like the Jay Bruce trade, absolutely do it.

As long as they are not in the division race, they should be "measured" buyers or "measured" sellers. We're still a building team that seems to be just past the rebuilding team phase. Sell carefully the parts that are not going to be part of a run and buy pieces that will be. This seems to have been the deadline approach and should continue to be so. If surplus can be sold for long term control of assets, then a bigger deal can be made. Until then, we will probably only see Garcia or Kinzler type moves

It's pretty easy to look at the pitching staff and predict doom and gloom, but on the flip side, what would happen if Mauer and/or Buxton got hot right now? Polanco's outburst so far this month has dramatically changed the offense and extended the lineup. If those two get rolling and Dozier stays hot, this team is going to be very difficult to beat.

Joe has been getting on base, but he's been really slumping with the stick. Over the last four weeks he's hit .194/.371/.239 (.610 OPS). Buxton is hitting just .222/.300/.259 (.559 OPS) since returning from the DL.

But in order to stay in the race, they'll have to start playing better on the road again. The Twins have one of the softer schedules down the stretch, but 29 of these last 50 games will be played away from Target Field. They got off to a great start on the road, going 20-8 over their first five road trips, but are 9-14 since.

The very end of the season is particularly road heavy, as 10 of their last 13 games will be away games (3 at NYY, 4 at DET, 3 at CLE).

To get to 85 wins (which is worse than any wildcard team since the most recent format changes), the Twins need to go 29-21 over their last 50 games. That works out to a 94-win pace for an entire season, and is two wins better than any 50-game stretch they've had this year.

This article was timely and yes I am more excited about the Twins than I was a week ago. Yes I had conceded the season and that they had virtually no chance at wild card spot. There are a lot of tough games left but this team still has fight in them. After the last several years I am just happy to have something to cheer about. If the pitching holds I believe they can stay there until the end but will it hold up? That is the question.

It would really be nice if Enns looked good in his debut but Milwaukee's homer prone lineup will be a big challenge for him. We'll see what happens. Feels good to have this team at 500 this late in the season.

It would help if this team could get back to a reasonable collection of pitchers and expand the bench for position players. Mauer probably needs a few more days off; he's played 6 out of 7 and his replacement was Adrianza. Oof. But he's wearing down a bit, which is clearly affecting him at the plate. So it's a shame that Vargas is getting dropped down again, because that's the spot where we need another guy right now.

It's great to see Rosario playing so well right now. He's having a career year right now at the plate. Now, if we can just get his defense back up to speed...

I'm excited. But I also know this is a young team that has (and will continue to have) ups and downs this year. Right now we are experiencing another up. I hope it continues and will enjoy it. Maybe the next down will not come or maybe it will be small.

Obviously there is a reasonable chance at playoff baseball this season, which is very exciting! Based on previous seasons 86 wins is about what is needed to get in, So 30-20 the rest of the way give them an excellent shot. They have lots of games against teams with losing records, so yes, lets get excited! But be reasonable as well. There are 6 other teams in the same boat fighting for one spot.

Question is will this front office allow this team to play out the season to try and get a wild card or trade off for another "future" team. As a fan who just watched 6 years of lousy baseball that was a slap in the face to the team and fans for a return of marginal potential. Too bad these new Execs didn't have to watch the last six years.

I agree. I thought it was over, but if some things continue to happen they have a shot:

1). Obviously, Dozier mashing HRs every night is nice. When he's on, it makes the whole lineup better (they have to pitch him differently, along with Sano, rippling down to guys like Kepler, Mauer, Rosario getting better pitches).

2). Eddie Rosario is turning into a monster. It's something like .313/.365/.520 in his last 60 games. Swing rate on pitches out of the zone down 10% over that span (roughly 45% career average to 35%). He may be figuring something out.

3). Big Sexy chewing up innings is huuuuuge.

4). Polanco hitting well from the bottom of the order, basically in front of a scorching Dozier.

Mejia's injury is a blow, he's been good. It would be nice to get Garver up here. But, those said, this team can win a whole lot of games in a short time if 1-4 continue.

It's always ok to be excited about your team.After all, if you are not excited when your team playing, then you are not much of a fan

Both of those trades were good for the Twins:

Effectively they replaced Garcia with Colon in the rotation and got 2 MLB-ready minor leaguers (one of them who will pitch tonight) for Ynoa.This trade made the Twins better in 2017.

Kintzler was not a regression that was about to happen, he was a regression that was happening.He was losing games for the Twins.Hopefully he will be replaced by a hot arm internally. (Curtiss, Bard, Melotakis, Turley, etc.)

Busenitz for Breslow is a plus as well.

Got to be excited for them to win and they will win some (that's the definition of a .500 team.Got 4 win streaks and 4 Loss streaks.) Just they are not built to win in a postseason and that cannot change right now...

To get to 85 wins (which is worse than any wildcard team since the most recent format changes), the Twins need to go 29-21 over their last 50 games. That works out to a 94-win pace for an entire season, and is two wins better than any 50-game stretch they've had this year.

But 85 wins has been enough to win a division a few times in the last decade. The Indians play teams with a 0.500 record or better the rest of the month while the Twins get a bunch of games against the White Sox, Tigers, and Blue Jays, so I would hope they can pick up at least a few games and make September really fun. To heck with the second wild card, go take the division!

It's been great to watch the bounce back, especially against a good Brewers team (albeit the worst RISP team in MLB).

To me it's been a perfect case scenario, we sold some stuff, got value back and are again competing. All year we have been competing because of our young kids (and Erv). There is no better way to prepare for next year. If we end up staying in it, how great will that experience be for our young guys?

Yes I am excited.

That being said. Mauer is not having that much better of year than last year. We need to think about platooning him with Garver or a waiver wire trade as has been suggested.

It's nice Dozier is heating up, as we know what that could mean, but for the vet calling out the FO, then striking out 5 times in a game and not hustling out a grounder to first..I am holding off on my praise for him. Lead by example, not words.

Love that Polonco is restoring our faith as a hitter. Him not panning out would be a huge blow to this team and our future 2nd base options.

Rosario is having a defining offensive year, as he may have fought through his awful bad habits at the plate. However, he literally almost makes one mistake a game in the field or on base, which is still concerning.

Finally I say we let the bullpen go, sink or swim, and hopefully our Manager stops riding guys with 4 run leads. Need to trust the young kids. It's great experience.

This has surprised me in that instead of folding up the tent they have bonded together are going to show everyone they are good club. Stats people can show you all sorts of stats why they should not win but they can't show you personal side of team. This group is learning how to win and they are putting more games together where they have figured how to win than when they loose which has been a lot of time very big. It also reflects on pitching staff that front couple of pitchers have pitched very well for starters and same was happening with relief staff they have had couple that have excelled at times this year. I also have to give credit to Paul Molitor he done good job of keeping this team together and playing. I have been critic of his but he's shown this year he can win if given few good player perfomances.

I have stated all long when you have a team that is winning you do all you can as FO to keep it winning. The future is now because things may never click with group of players again because of thousand different circumstances. Also I believeevery so often you have years like this when group of teams are all about the same and all have flaws that prevent them from taking command of playoff spot. I am thinking this years wild card teams in American league could get in with a low of 85 to 87 wins. I just look at the remaining schedule and you see how so many of the teams are playing each other and nobody has the look of dominating others so I got feeling this is how whole season plays out. Also I look at American league central this is by no means settled either. Cleveland is up 4 on the Twins in the loss column butthe Twinsshould stay hot and gain a game or two and next week Twins sweep Clevelandyou could see Minnesota tied with Cleveland with 40+ games to go. I know this may not happen but if this happens the Twins sure could have used their closer and another pitcher to add depth only saving factor will be that September is just two weeks away to get some call up to bolster the ranks. Also this may be another reason the Twins can make run for playoffs because this will bolster the bottom end of the rotation because they will have pitchers to piece games together to win a few more games.

Baseball has changed which a number of the media and experts have not fully come to realize in that having the best team with best overall record means nothing today. Because if you win 100+ games or you squeak in with 86 wins to make the playoffs. Everyone is starting even and it comes down to winning on very short sample size so if team gets hot it could propel you all way to world series champs. Look how many wild card teams have been to world series in last 10 years and they have won it just as many times as teams with best record in baseball. To win World series even for wild card teams it takes 13 wins out of possible maximum of 22 games. Relative shortseason where who ever is hot and playing good baseball can become world series champ. In the past baseball was set up for teams who won most in regular season to make it the World Series. That has changed andhas extended the interest of fans in many cities because of these chances to make the playoffs.

Great article. I'm excited and hoping the Twins can win 5 in-a-row for the first time all season. One big reason CLE and KC are ahead is that they both had an 8-0 run while Twins were getting beaten up by a very good Dodgers team. If the Twins can string together their own run now, it should be an interesting September.

Pitching continues to be a concern so it would be great if either Falvey picked up a good rent-a-pitcher or we luck out and Gonsalves comes up and goes 5-1.

Question is will this front office allow this team to play out the season to try and get a wild card or trade off for another "future" team. As a fan who just watched 6 years of lousy baseball that was a slap in the face to the team and fans for a return of marginal potential. Too bad these new Execs didn't have to watch the last six years.

Are you asking if the Twins are going to trade Dozier/Santana? I would think that would be highly unlikely - those aren't the kind of guys who get through waivers and once a team claims them the Twins have little to no leverage. No one else is going to be traded. This team will be the team until the end - if anything, you may see them add a reliever if the price is right?

They traded Kintzler, it wasn't a slap in the face. He was a reliever pitching over his head. He's not even closing for the Nationals. The Twins will not make or not make the playoffs based on Kintzler. Garcia was barely on the team and the Twins are not turning to a guy who may be a part of the future (Enns) over a guy who would not be.

Cleveland and Arizona next week. Not as bad as Houston/Dodgers but not like facing the White Sox for a week.A week of angst followed by a week of hope.

At least it looks like the Twins will miss Kluber in that series. They've seemed to catch some breaks in missing team's aces this year. And the Dbacks are struggling a bit too lately, so hopefully this is a good time to play them.

I agree with your last sentence. That absolutely should be the focus... But they're there, and they're close now.

I don't know if I agree with you on Gee and Enns being better for this year. That very well may be true, and logically, I think it's accurate...But we don't know how good Gee can or will be, and we don't know how Enns will handle tonight (or subsequent starts). Likewise, we don't know how Gonsalves or Romero would handle the big leagues, much less a playoff race either. Could be great. Could be good. Could be bad. No way to know either way. But I think I agree with the logic of the decisions on Gee and Enns. And the front office will adjust the roster accordingly pending results.

So what you're saying is that baseball is a game and we don't know what happens beforehand. Hrm, I think I agree.

I know I'd like to see Gonsalves make at least three or four AAA starts before they throw him into a pennant race. If they're hanging around Sept 1 and have a real need in the rotation and he's been killing it in AAA, I can see bringing him up. But let's not rush his development - this has been a phenomenal year for him and he's setting himself up nicely for 2018. Let's trust the FO to know when it's okay to disrupt his progression.

Not interested in Romero coming up. He's on an innings limit in AA - no reason to rush him to the majors. His name gets thrown around way too much on TD right now. Not an option for the MLB club. Not likely to even hit AAA this year.